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42
one hundred and twenty were transferred cases. This increase
was counteracted by the removal from the register of two
hundred and twenty patients, of whom thirty had died.
The visit of the mass x-ray unit to Chislehurst and Sidcup
for the three weeks in February received good response from the
public and is a very valuable service. A total of three thousand
five hundred and forty-four persons, one thousand and twentyfive
of whom were school children attended. One hundred and
seven showed abnormal film signs, fourteen of which were
significant new cases of tuberculosis.
Notification of the disease is well maintained—there being
only one case dying of tuberculosis which had not been
previously notified. It will be interesting to watch the effect of
re-housing of tuberculous families into the new housing estates.
Every endeavour must, of course, continue to be made to lift
tuberculous families from bad housing conditions into good
housing conditions but any increased cost of living resulting
from increased rentage and increased travelling costs to their
place of work may have a very serious effect on the living
standards of such families.
Food Poisoning.
During the year there were twenty-one notifications of food
poisoning but, after investigation, only nine cases could be substantiated.
I was unsuccessful in the investigation of these cases
to confirm the bacteriological agent. The fact that we are
receiving co-operation from the people concerned tends to inflate
the number of notifications, but it is better to err on the side
of safety in spite of the increased work entailed. There is no
doubt that, as a result of much Public Health Education, the
public are responding to the teaching of food hygiene and are
now only too willing to call the aid of the Department. I would,
however, stress one point in that any delay in notification of an
outbreak complicates the investigation and not infrequently
leads to negative results. The great help we receive from the
superintendents of school canteens is greatly appreciated. There
is a tendency to establish central school canteens and to distribute,
by container, such cooked food to other schools. This is a
practice that although economic in establishment, might well
lead to increased danger in the cause and spread of food
poisoning.
Dysentery-
The dysentery incidence which has been increasing during
the last three years gave rise to ninety-five notifications, most of
these being confirmed cases of Sonne Dysentery—a somewhat
mild disease of short duration, but one that tends to spread
rapidly throughout a family unless personal hygiene is very